Keynote Lecture by Prof. Dr. Per Esben Svelstad, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in the framework of the CCM project “Just Futures? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Climate Models”
According to Hartmut Rosa, Western late modernity is characterized by a diminishing sense of responsiveness between humans and the world. I will argue that the aesthetic experiences fundamental to the Humanities can help cultivate a patient form of responsive attention—one currently under threat. Crucial in this respect is the idea of adaptation, understood both as an aesthetic practice of reworking artistic works for new contexts, and as a mode of existing in a systemically interconnected, volatile world. In my lecture, I will address theoretical and pedagogical aspects of this issue and discuss what happens when students work on poetic texts as part of an interdisciplinary project on visions of the future in education for sustainability and the environment.